This guy – Jeffrey Foucault – has been a solid favorite of mine for years. He just released a new recording and one that I have on repeat at the moment. Powerful words wrapped in simple chords and gritty vocals. Americana. Enjoy.

Do the dishes
With the windows open
Soak the dirt
From under your nails
Pour a double
Put a record on the table
The light’s always perfect
Just before it fails

Bow your head down
When you break bread together
Close your eyes
Make a circle of hands
There is nothing
That cannot be taken from you
In this life
You just hold on
To the love that we have

Swing the ax
In the hours before daylight
Note the sparks
That attend to the blade
A thing made free
Of itself leaps apart
And the heart divided
Would do just the same

Take the backroads
With nobody on them
Find a river
And make yourself clean
Go down to water
If you would be delivered
Of sinner and sin
Seen and unseen

Step outside
Let the stars reel around you
Cup your hands
Around a bright flame
In that darkness
Let the heavens confound you
It’s all just a story
Even the sound of your name